OC Transpo holds 'dress rehearsal' for Trillium Line on Saturday

Friends and family members of OC Transpo staff were the first to get a chance to ride on Ottawa's new Trillium Line this weekend.

The transit service ran what it calls a "dress rehearsal" with about 500 people getting to ride Lines 2 and 4 on Saturday, giving officials a clearer picture of what regular passenger service will look like.

"It was about 34 minutes, I think they said from Bayview to Limebank, so it's pretty good," said Armonia Joachim, who rode the train on Saturday. "You're not crammed, you've got tons of space to spread out, and you've got a gorgeous view so it's a lot more calm than driving."

On Saturday, a spokesperson for the City of Ottawa said that the exercises and drills during the dress rehearsal were completed successfully, but did not provide more details. Lessons learned from the day will be discussed at a technical briefing scheduled for Dec. 6.

"I was also checking on the timing, so it took us around 16 minutes from Greenboro Station to Bayview so that was amazing, it is a good experience," said Mital Patel.

The southern extension of the LRT, which includes Line 2 from Bayview to Limebank stations and Line 4 from South Keys to Airport station, is more than two years behind schedule. It remains unclear when the north-south line will open, but officials say an opening date will be provided during next week's technical briefing.

Officials say they are trying to prevent a repeat of the disaster with the Confederation Line issues.

A presentation prepared for the city's LRT subcommittee meeting on Friday says there is still some work to be done, including additional drills, winter performance preparations, a roll out of customer information and continued training for operators. It's still unclear if the targets were met on Saturday.

TransitNext must submit its final safety case and final report from the Independent Safety Assessor. The City's independent safety auditor must also provide a statement indicating no objections to the commencement of passenger service.

With files from CTV's Ted Raymond